The two men who will call the action on the Big Ten Network for this weekend’s conference wrestling championships are calling for a fourth straight title for Penn State.

Tim Johnson, a former high school coach, and Jim Gibbons, a three-time All-American at Iowa State and former coach there as well, will broadcast Sunday’s finals at 2 p.m. on BTN. Earlier rounds will be streamed on the Big Ten Digital Network.

Both pegged Penn State as the tourney favorite on a Wednesday conference call.

Johnson praised host school Wisconsin as treating it as a “very, very important event’’ and claimed that 10,000 people would be in the stands.

“And I think the other story,’’ Johnson said, “is whether (Penn State’s) David Taylor and Ed Ruth will be a part of four straight Big Ten championships? And I believe the answer is probably yes, with five No. 1 seeds, all of them I think really solid.

“That will be the story, whether Penn State wins four, and Iowa and Minnesota will be the teams that will push Penn State,’’ Johnson said.

Gibbons agreed, anticipating a great tourney and citing style matchups “that are going to be phenomenal.’’

He said watching the quarterfinals at the Big Tens will be like watching the quarterfinals at the NCAAs.

“You have an air of excitement for some of these individual weight classes,’’ Gibbons said. “And plus you have the great ones with Taylor and Ruth with the opportunity to become rare four-time Big Ten Conference champions.

“The favorite is certainly Penn State. I’ve got them with the least stressful route of putting six guys in the finals. Who knows what will happen in the finals; there’s great competition. But they find themselves in great position.

“Taylor and Ruth have the ability to put up bonus points by getting falls and technical falls and major decisions in the early rounds, and those bonus points are going to be tough to come by because of the level of competition in the early rounds,’’ Gibbons said.

Minnesota defeated Penn State and Iowa in the regular season but Gibbons said Penn State is dominant in some of the weight classes, such as 165 and 184.

“You have to favor them at this point,’’ Gibbons said. “It’s not anything slighting any other team. I certainly love the way that Minnesota has competed in the month of February, winning the National Duals and beating Penn State.

“But the individual tournament, I kind of concur with the coaches at this point, they (Penn State) have the most firepower.’’

Johnson said this year’s Minnesota team reminds him of the Gopher squad that won the NCAAs with no finalists. He claimed Minnesota could have “10 thirds’’ in the Big Ten tourney.

“That’s a real interesting lineup and the reason that they are so good dual meet wise,’’ Johnson said.

“But the five guys that won for Penn State against Minnesota (in the dual meet) could all win it, and the five guys that won for Minnesota probably are more likely to be favored for third.

“That’s the way it happens in dual meets, but the firepower for Penn State is the reason they are favored in the tournament format.’’

Gibbons said the “pressure’’ is on Penn State to four-peat and that Iowa and Minnesota are in “good position to surprise people.’’

“We’ll see what happens,’’ Gibbons said. “But right now clearly the favorite is Penn State.’’

Johnson called Minnesota coach J Robinson the “master motivator,’’ given that the Gophers had the best dual meet team but are being passed over for tournament honors.

“They’ve had a difficult a schedule as anyone and they weathered it very well and they’re still not favored,’’ Johnson said.

“He (Robinson) has to like this position. With the culture he’s built there, he’ll have no problem motivating. They’ll walk into this tournament and the next tournament with a lot of confidence.’’